Fallback When AI Cannot Answer
What visitors see when Ask AI has no answer or cannot respond, what the Fallback tab shows, and how a Contact tab and Visitor Capture give them a next step.
No assistant can answer everything. What matters is what the visitor sees next and whether they still have a way to reach you. This guide explains the two situations Flidu treats differently, what the Fallback tab in the dashboard tells you, and what you can set up around them. Flidu does not offer live chat: nobody joins the Ask AI conversation and nothing is transferred to a person in real time.
Two Different Situations
| Situation | What The Visitor Sees |
|---|---|
| Your sources do not cover the question | A reply written by Ask AI. It is instructed to answer from your sources and to say when it does not have enough source information, so the wording varies from question to question. |
| Ask AI cannot respond at all | The fixed message “This feature is temporarily unavailable.” |
The first is an ordinary answer and counts as one AI message. The second happens, for example, when the month’s AI message allowance is used up or the AI service has a problem. Visitors are never told the reason: no plan name, limit or error detail is shown, and the Ask AI tab stays in place. I Reached My Monthly AI Message Limit covers the allowance case.
There is no field for writing your own fallback message. The wording you control sits around it: the greeting, the suggested questions, your sources and your Contact channels.
What The Fallback Tab Shows
In the dashboard, open AI Chatbots, choose your assistant, and open the Fallback tab. It is a status view with nothing to fill in. It tells you whether visitors have a Contact tab to turn to.
| Status On The Tab | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Fallback activates once this assistant is live | The assistant is not published yet. |
| Visitors can switch to Contact | The assistant is live in a Website Widget that also offers Contact. |
| Ask AI-only placement | The assistant is installed without Contact, so visitors have no Contact tab. |
| Safe fallback message | The assistant is connected to a widget that offers Contact, but Ask AI is not running there, for example while it is paused. |
When the assistant is not connected to a Website Widget, or is installed as Ask AI-only, the tab shows an Add Website Widget button that opens the Preview tab. Step 4 of the Create AI Chatbot flow, also called Fallback, has no message to write either: its one control is the Visual Source Cards switch.
Give Visitors A Contact Tab
The most dependable fallback is a widget that offers both Contact and Ask AI. Two tabs, Contact and Ask AI, sit side by side, so a visitor can switch at any moment, on any plan. To set it up, open the assistant’s Preview tab and, in the Connection section, select Connect to Widget. Choose a published Website Widget, select Continue, then confirm with Connect Now. Ask AI joins the widget as a draft and stays private until you select Publish Ask AI. In the Create AI Chatbot flow, the same choice is called Add to an existing Website Widget. Choose Contact, Ask AI, Or Both compares the options.
Switching tabs only changes what the visitor is looking at. What they typed in Ask AI does not follow them into WhatsApp, a form or any other channel. An Ask AI-only install has no Contact tab at all.
Collect Details With Visitor Capture
From AI Chatbot Starter, the Visitor Capture section of the assistant’s Settings tab can show a small form inside the Ask AI conversation. It reads “Want the team to follow up? Leave your details.” and asks for an optional name and an email address. There are three triggers, each with its own switch.
| Trigger | When The Form Is Offered |
|---|---|
| Fallback Capture | Together with the “This feature is temporarily unavailable.” message, when Ask AI cannot respond. In a widget that also has Contact channels, a Contact the team button that opens the Contact tab is shown as well. |
| Conversation Capture | After a visitor has asked a few questions. |
| Contact Intent Capture | When a visitor’s message asks to talk to or hear from someone. |
After a visitor sends the form, you receive their name, email address and most recent question by email. It goes to the Capture notification email when one is set, otherwise to your workspace notification recipients. On AI Chatbot Starter and Pro a captured visitor reaches you by email; from AI Chatbot Business the details are also kept as records in AI Data Hub. Select Save changes after switching a trigger on. Capture Questions AI Cannot Answer goes through the setup in full.
On AI Chatbot Free, Visitor Capture is locked. A visitor who needs a person uses the Contact tab, if the same widget has Contact channels.
Reduce Misses Before They Happen
- Set expectations in the greeting. The Greeting message is the first line a visitor reads in Ask AI. Say what the assistant can help with.
- Offer questions your pages answer well. See Suggested Questions And Source Cards.
- Fill the gaps. From AI Chatbot Starter, the assistant’s Analytics tab has an Unanswered Questions card for questions that found no matching source. Add a page or source that covers them, or save a correction under Corrections / Preferred Answers in Settings. Content Gaps From Visitor Questions explains the card.
- Guide the reply. From AI Chatbot Starter, a Custom Instruction such as “Encourage visitors to use Contact when the answer is not available.” can shape how Ask AI words a reply. Instructions guide the assistant; they are not fixed rules.
- Test it. In the Preview tab, ask a question your pages do not cover and read the reply a visitor would get. Preview does not offer Visitor Capture, and its questions count toward your monthly AI messages.
If The Fallback Is Not What You Expected
- No Contact tab beside Ask AI. The assistant is installed as Ask AI-only, or the widget has no Contact channel that visitors can see.
- No capture form. Check the plan (Starter or above), that the trigger is switched on and saved, and which situation you are testing.
- The Ask AI tab is gone. A paused or unpublished assistant removes the tab; it does not show a message. See The Ask AI Tab Is Missing From My Widget.
- Every question gets the unavailable message. See Ask AI Loads But Gives No Answer.